Strenghts for a Balanced Learning System for Officers Well Prepared for Future Challenges

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The Experience of the Italian Army in Cooperation with the University of Turin

Enrico SPINELLO1Note de bas de page 1 [0000-0003-3987-8091], Marina MARCHISIO2Note de bas de page 2 [0000-0003-1007-5404]

Introduction

The Armed Forces, and especially the Army, are strategic resources for a country and they play a fundamental role in case of crisis, in terms of management and security. With their efficiency and credibility, they contribute to the global balance. The organization of the Armed Forces is changing to fit possible future scenarios and their use is going towards a more integrated direction with police and civilian organizations. In a world that’s continuously changing, people who work in this field are required more competencies than in the past. For these reasons, the education and training programs for officers and non-commissioned officers (NCO), in accordance with their tasks and perspective of career in the military world, are more important and deserve a special attention from experts, academics and officers, who are in charge of designing them. The profound changes that have been affecting the Armed Forces will probably continue in the next future and while employing them for international operations and missions as well as for homeland security, they need a new lifelong learning program for military personnel who will face new challenges in all traditional domains: land, sea, air and space. We now have to add a new dimension, the cyber-space, where professionals have to face new risks and find new defensive solutions. In addition, it must be said that there is no clear equivalent of this curriculum in the civilian academic world, because they are in the first place Commanders of soldiers with a credible leadership based on wide knowledge and able to use the authority in the proper way under any circumstances. As manager of precious resources, such as equipment and weapon systems, they have to know how to use and manage them in compliance with national and international laws and administrative directives. In missions and operations, they have to be able to conduct tasks in crucial time as well as in normal condition. The military world is a complex environment with several branches and each of them has more specific additional requirements. Therefore it has to be: multidisciplinary, highly specialized, international and continuous. Furthermore, the fourth industrial revolution has caused a major change in the world of products and services and it represents a technological breaking without any precedent. We are required to re-think the education for future citizens because they have to be more adaptable and flexible to modern needs. This revolution involves also the Defence domain and in the digital era, the Armed Forces must be able to use technology in an intelligent, efficient and effective way, which is smart.

The IT-Army Education and Training Command and School of Applied Military Studies (COMFOR) and the Interdepartmental University School for Strategic Sciences (SUISS) of the University of Turin (UNITO), who started to cooperate many years ago, recently designed a specific and tailored university education program for Italian Army officers. This program integrates and values the traditional military training and is trying to focus on internationalization (Spinello and Marchisio, 2016). It is also opened to civilian students in order to prepare highly specialized personnel who are able to cooperate with the military component in modern scenarios. In addition, in order to respond to the change of paradigm created by the fourth industrial revolution, the use of new technologies with a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and an Automatic Assessment System (AAS), were introduced together with new learning methodologies, such as the problem sharing, posing and solving procedures. The final goal is to develop qualifying and transverse capabilities and competencies that are considered key-points and adequate for future officers (Marchisio and others, 2017).

The IT-Army Education

Until the 80's the entire cycle of studies for officers was based on a two-year engineering course. Then officers attended different university courses in a traditional area such as Political Sciences, Computer Science, Management, Mechanical and Civil Engineering according to their preferences or military requirements. Not everybody was admitted to an additional fifth year in order to complete their studies and gain a Master’s Degree. The military and the university program were not well harmonized. In 1997, a Legislative Act introduced exclusive and specific criteria for military education and in 2001, a peculiar class of University Degree for Defence and Security was created for all military services. In accordance with the Bologna Process, the cycle of studies was organized on a three-year Bachelor Degree plus a two-year Master’s Degree. The entire cycle is conceptually designed as a full five-year course.

Since then, the COMFOR and UNITO have developed a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree in Strategic Sciences for Young Military Officers and Civilian Students. The COMFOR is the Command responsible, together with dependent Schools, for providing basic education and training for all Italian Army Officers (Regular officers, Direct Entry officers, Reserve officers and Special Reserve officers) and NCOs (Sergeants and Warrant Officers). The training program for young officers recruited after High School is realized in coordination with the dependent Military Academy, which is located in the city of Modena, where military students spend two years in the Academy as cadets. The Bachelor’s Degree Course is managed and developed together with the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. With the rank of Second Lieutenant, they move to Turin in order to complete their preparation with a three-year course and obtain the Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree in Strategic Sciences.

The education and training for Direct Entry officers, Reserve officers and Special Reserve officers is provided with through different courses tailored and based on different levels of preparation and in order to fulfil different requirements. The COMFOR is also responsible for organizing, in a lifelong learning perspective, the Army Staff Course, the Battalion Commanders Course and the Qualification of military teachers.

The University of Turin, founded in 1404, is one of the most ancient and most prestigious Italian universities. Hosting about 70.000 students, the University of Turin is nowadays one of the largest Italian Universities. UNITO offers a very long list of Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees with the exception of Engineering and Architecture. It also offers a very peculiar course in Strategic Sciences, which is considered a course of excellence and which is linked to university research. A special university school, named the Interdepartmental University School for Strategic Sciences (SUISS), was established with the purpose of managing the Strategic Sciences Courses for military and civilian students.

In 2015 a new Ministry Act offered the possibility to review the curricula and adequate them to new national university requirements. Their updating is coming to an end.

In Turin the total number of students for this specific University Courses is about 360 military officers (the last three years of the training) and 250 civilians (the civilians attend the entire cycle of studies in Turin). The Bachelor’s Degree is opened to a limited number of students (40 selected candidatesper year) while the Master’s Degree has no limitations.

In order to match different military requirements for each branch and speciality, five different curricula of the Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees were created and defined:

  • political sciences/management for Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery;
  • infrastructural system for Combat Engineering;
  • communication for Signal Corps;
  • logistics;
  • economics.

The curricula developed for civilian students are three: political sciences/management, logistics and economics. These curricula replace the military training with additional university programmes but maintain the main concept of traineeships including more practical activities than in a traditional university course.

The education system for Strategic Sciences is based on a multidisciplinary approach with a wide range of disciplines where theory is supplemented by an intensive program of practical activities, vocational disciplines and traineeships that are fully integrated in the curriculum.

The following Figure shows, as an example, the level of flexibility that the Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Strategic Sciences has in order to recognize military training and disciplines into the program together with more classic university subjects. One third of the entire university career is composed of military activities, with at least 100 European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) on a total of 300.

This great number of different disciplines in academic and vocational area allows granting a specific and highly qualified preparation for students and their future functions and possible tasks that each of them could be called to perform in their life in public or private companies as well.

The education and training system is not limited to the initial and basic level (Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees), but it is continuous and permanent in a lifelong learning perspective.

The COMFOR is also responsible for advanced training and hosts the IT-Army Staff Course for Captains and Majors, which is one of the most challenging and important courses organized by IT-Army. In order to reduce the period of time that officers have to spend outside the families, this course and other courses as well are organized with a quite important period of distance learning phase.

Next Academic year, a specializing Master in Cultural Property Protection in Crisis Response (Bologna Process Level 1) will be conducted for the first time. It will be held in English, with the main goal of preparing experts, both military and civilian, in this specific area, trained on the modern techniques (also digital) and international methodologies, in compliance with UNESCO standard requirements for the protection of cultural heritage (including archives and libraries).

The distribution of the activities.

Figure 1:The distribution of the activities.

Armed Forces members are in the front line in order to protect cultural goods while they are under menace by armed conflicts or natural disasters. It becomes important that they are well prepared to be in contact with local authorities and populations for providing military protection and for organizing and managing preventive actions in a crisis response operations scenario. In the past, UNITO organized and activated a Ph.D. (Bologna Process Level 3) in Strategic Sciences while recently showed interest for joining a Doctoral School on Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) under the aegis of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) – Brussels, which is a network college in the European External Action Service (EEAS) of the European Union.

Ten key actions adopted

In order to have a balanced learning system, the following ten key actions, strictly connected, were discussed, shared and adopted by the two Institutions:

  1. Multidisciplinary education;
  2. Balance between military and academic subjects;
  3. Traineeship in order to complete theory with more practice;
  4. A Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) integrated with an Advanced Computing Environment (ACE), an automatic assessment system, a web conference system and other tools;
  5. Innovative methodologies with change of the teacher role and more activity of the students in their learning;
  6. Development of transverse competences and soft skills like problem solving, collaborative and cooperative learning, team working;
  7. Lifelong learning;
  8. Advanced and specialized training on specific and interesting subjects;
  9. Internationalization programs;
  10. Education and training for military and civilian students.

The Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Strategic Sciences offer young officers a solid basic preparation with a wide range of subjects in order to give them the opportunity to be prepared for future and different tasks during their career and to be able to operate with a complete vision and a comprehensive approach. The disciplines belong to different subject areas such as scientific, politics, law, economics, management, historical, sociological and linguistic. For this reason, eight different university departments contribute to the SUISS: Chemistry, Computer Science, Cultures, Politics and Society, Economic, Social, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Law, Management, Mathematics “Giuseppe Peano” and Physics. All professors come from those departments and from the Polytechnic of Turin for engineering disciplines. Military teachers complete the long list of professors who contribute to give a multidisciplinary education. Consequently, students are required to be very flexible and adaptive for the variety of topics. In the next figures, the common part of disciplines in each academic year are shown.

The great number of military disciplines is a characterizing group which contributes to achieve a balance within the academic disciplines. The teachers are senior officers with a great experience in the subject. The contents of military disciplines are harmonized with the academic issues. The great part of them are offered also to civilians as eligible for their study program and contain additional and practical activities for enhancing skills and competencies. In order to manage the university courses, the SUISS has a didactic autonomy comparable to a Faculty white boards and commissions where academic professors and military teachers work together to succeed in all different aspects and find the right solution for each .

The great number of military disciplines is a characterizing group which contributes to achieve a balance within the academic disciplines. The teachers are senior officers with a great experience in the subject. The contents of military disciplines are harmonized with the academic issues. The great part of them are offered also to civilians as eligible for their study program and contain additional and practical activities for enhancing skills and competencies. In order to manage the university courses, the SUISS has a didactic autonomy comparable to a Faculty white boards and commissions where academic professors and military teachers work together to succeed in all different aspects and find the right solution for each .

Military lesson.

Figure 2: Military lesson.

Academic disciplines are combined with a great number of military activities and disciplines, which directly contributes to achieve the total number of ECTS required to get the Degree. During the academic year, there is an alternation between academic semesters, internships and external activities. Part of them are conducted directly in military specialized schools or training centres according to different training requirements for each branch/speciality. Military students are divided into groups under the Command of a Section Leader belonging to the same branch. They are Captains and Majors with the specific tasks of tutoring students during the academic semesters and external activities and teaching complementary topics related to the specialities. The tutoring contributes to achieve a very high percentage of students who complete the entire cycle of studies on time (more than 95%) and with a quite good average rating. The civilians from the second year have the possibility to receive educational training in collaboration with public institutions, private companies or with national and international organization, like IOs, GOs or NGOs. They also have the possibility to do their practical training at the COMFOR as well as the Post Conflict Operations Study Centre (a centre of excellence for Stabilization and Reconstruction operations, located in Turin as a dependent Department of the COMFOR). We are now working on the possibility to extend these practical activities in missions and operations together with Italian Army Units deployed abroad. For civilians, these opportunities mean more chances to obtain an interesting employment in many areas where there are no specific competitions due to the fact that it represents a new professional figure in the security field. Many visits to companies and organizations located in the area of Turin are also organized in order to give them the chance to get to know and observe local realities.

Visit to Pininfarina’s plant in Turin.

Figure 3: Visit to Pininfarina’s plant in Turin.

Officers' training with helicopter CH4.

Figure 4: Officers' training with helicopter CH4.

Officers' training in patrol.

Figure 5: Officers' training in patrol.

UNITO and COMFOR adopted in 2015 an intensive e-learning program in order to enhance the quality of the didactics by using new digital technologies in direct support to regular lessons and prepare distance learning courses (reduction of costs). The e-learning environment is also necessary for having internationalization programs.

For didactic purposes, an integrated Virtual Learning Environment was adopted with an Advanced Computing Environment (ACE), an Automatic Assessment System (AAS), a web conference system and authoring tools, like Xerte (Marchisio et others 2016, Spinello and others 2017).

The adoption of new technologies permits to:

  • have tutors available for online synchronous and asynchronous activities
  • have topics available in self-paced MOOC modality that can be used without time and space limits;
  • favour collaborative and cooperative learning among students;
  • adopt advanced instruments for learning especially for scientific disciplines in order to achieve high levels of technological competencies;
  • enhance the quality of didactic;
  • share with other national or international institutes and create e-learning modules;
  • ease simulations and virtual experiences;
  • create community of professionals, share problems and possible strategies;
  • ensure a continuous monitoring about the level of learning and a prompt evaluation.

Moodle Platforms of UniTo and COMFOR connected.

Figure 6: Moodle Platforms of UniTo and COMFOR connected.

The use of MOODLE Platform is currently adopted for:

Initial and basic education and training:

  • regular courses for Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Strategic Sciences;
  • short modules for internationals such as Military Erasmus or Teach Mob Program;
  • modules for the English as teaching language program;
  • all military courses for officers;

Initial and basic education and training:

  • Stabilization and Reconstruction Courses for senior officers and generals and civilian equivalents;
  • Army Staff Course (more than 200 captains per year), for a total of 128 courses and 4.919 users in the last year.

The platform is also used for evaluating the didactics and as a support to additional activities.

Online Course of Game Theory given by prof. Simon Salomon, King’s College, London.

Figure 7: Online Course of Game Theory given by prof. Simon Salomon, King’s College, London.

Innovative methodologies in teaching and learning were introduced in order to improve the development of disciplinary and transverse competencies. For example, due to the use of the platform integrated with an Advanced Computing Environment (MAPLE), students are able to do numerical calculus, symbolic calculus and geometrical visualization in 2 or 3 dimensions, write procedures, simulate, manage and analyse data in a unique and homogeneous environment, while mathematics teachers can focus on new strategies to get to the solution and verify the quality of reply while relying on computer for calculation.

The modular structure of the Mathematical Models Course.

Figure 8: The modular structure of the Mathematical Models Course.

The organization of a module: file Pdf   with theory, interactive Maple file, and assignment with automatic assessment.

Figure 9: The organization of a module: file Pdf with theory, interactive Maple file, and assignment with automatic assessment.

The system can evaluate different answers with all possibilities because it recognizes formulas and graphs, while it is able to reply to students immediately and with a punctual feedback. Students are able to evaluate their own preparation step by step. Teachers can practice adaptive teaching methodologies for courses that can differ from traditional lessons and create more personal study programs.

Example of questions of an assignment with automatic evaluation. Example of questions of an assignment with automatic evaluation.

Figures 10 and 11. Example of questions of an assignment with automatic evaluation.

The problem sharing, posing and solving methodology is adopted for scientific and humanistic disciplines in order to facilitate the link between theory and practice, knowledge and acquired ability and their application in operational environments where officers will be asked to operate. It starts from a real contextualized problem, then it is shared (problem sharing) among students by using the platform or in presence. Time is given to students so they can understand it and think about how to solve it. In the second phase students think about available data, possible requests and knowledge for studying it (posing). Then, possible strategies and solutions are developed in order to achieve the final result. For the same problem more than one solution is possible so a discussion starts about the best one, especially in particular conditions. In order to solve the problem, students can confront each other in presence or by using an asynchronous forum on the platform, applying the collaborative learning/working. To find the best solutions students can use all available tools: according to the discipline, they can choose advanced computing environment or simply use internet for searching useful information. In some cases the method can be used in English in order to facilitate the acquisition of the proper military terminology and to increase the language skills by using the foreign language while working. This function is enhanced when the interaction with international military and/or civilian students is given. More education opportunities are given by the presence of civilians: it encourages the team working with a civilian-military cooperation perspective and increases the multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach.

This type of learning procedure changes the teachers' role who becomes a facilitator, a tutor and not only a transmitter of knowledge. He/she helps students increase their skills by developing capability of discerning, combining and applying the knowledge. Teachers attended courses where lectures are delivered by e-learning experts, both academic and military. They also receive help during the preparation of materials and lessons. A support service is available for this purpose.

Students which solve problems during a lesson in a laboratory by using the ACE. Students which solve problems during a lesson in a laboratory by using the ACE.

Figures 12 and 13. Students which solve problems during a lesson in a laboratory by using the ACE.

On some specific topics additional learning offers are organized in order to provide a more advanced and specialized preparation such as seminars, conferences and exercises, part of which in cooperation with other Armed Forces in a joint vision. For example, this year, 84 Army young officers with 77 Carabinieri colleagues and 9 foreign officers have successfully completed a specific training on Human rights and application of International Humanitarian Law in crisis operations. The course was held in Vicenza where the Centre Of Excellence for Stability Police Unit (COESPU) is located. The alternation of regular lessons with practical activities, organized in English, gave students the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the main problems that occur in operational activities when the use of force is required but always in respect of human rights. Particularly appreciated were some lessons about the use of drones and the hostilities in urban environment.

Module on Human Rights, Vicenza 2017. Module on Human Rights, Vicenza 2017.

Figures 14 and 15. Module on Human Rights, Vicenza 2017.

Education for the Army is conceptually organized as permanent and continuous with updating courses in a Lifelong Learning perspective. In particular, COMFOR organizes the IT-Army Staff course for Captains and Majors and courses for officers coming from the NCO corps and enlisted, or for those officers who served in the Army for a period of time and are now recruited permanently.

The Post-Conflict Operations Study Centre runs courses about stabilization and reconstruction, which is the core business, at different levels: an Orientation Course for Senior Officers and a Management Course for Generals, Colonels and civilian equivalent. They are in English, and lecturers are academic and military experts in the sector or on specific geographical areas. In a modern perspective, these courses are open to civilians and foreign officers.

The University of Turin, in order to value all courses, certifies the quality of teaching by recognizing them in terms of ECTS in accordance with the Bologna Process. This is important for those who will leave the military. In this way it is possible to foster the passage of security experts to civilian employment in public administration or in the civilian productive world (Libro Bianco, art. 169). This post-degree education represents an enrichment for military personnel and it is organized in a blended mode: part in e-learning and part in presence. It helps in cost reduction.

A great attention is given to the internationalization, in accordance with the Ministry of University program for the period 2016-18, where internationalization is seen as a strategic action for a future education and in accordance with the article 169 of the Libro Bianco in which the necessity to have a system that is able to enhance the internationalization of capabilities is highlighted.

“The European Initiative for the Exchange of young officers, inspired by ERASMUS”, is a UE program (Spinello, 2013) created to promote the exchange of young officers during their initial basic training period between European Universities and Military Institutes. It was launched in 2008 by EU Ministry of Defence under the aegis of the European Security and Defence College (ESDC) – Bruxelles. It is a network college that provides education and training for defence and security, both for military and civilians, in cooperation with European Institutes. For this specific purpose, a working project configuration of the Executive Academic Board (EAB) was created: the Implementation Group (IG). It deals with the development of new common offers and promotes the knowledge within the EU. The IT-Army joined the program in 2010, initially by sending young officers to the activities and, since 2013, by organizing 2 common modules per year. The Common Module is a short education activity focused on a specific subject either academic or vocational with an e-learning phase and a residential one. It lasts 1 to 3 weeks. In Italy and in some other countries, these activities are also opened to civilian students in order to create a common feeling on European security. For them, these opportunities represent a particular occasion to learn specific topics with no equivalents in the university area. In order to have the status of common module the offer needs to match common requirements in a general or in a single service perspective (Army, Navy, Air Force or other service) and the IG is responsible for developing, updating and harmonizing them. Common Modules are described by their learning outcomes according to the European Qualification Framework and they are recognized within the European High Education Area by using the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). An increasing number of Italian Army young officers is involved in the program. The participation with success to a Common Module is automatically recognized in the university carrier because the list of Common Module is part of the SUISS university program while the other offers require a case by case procedure.

The following figures show international activities organized by COMFOR and UNITO. The idea is to increase the mobility for students and staff within the EU and other countries, year after year.

BILATERAL AGREEMENTs active within the ERASMUS PROGRAM
University Activities
Ecoles Militaire de Saint-Cyr (FRANCE) Mobility for students and teachers in International Relations
Ecoles Militaire de Saint-Cyr (FRANCE) Mobility for students and teachers in Math and Informatics
War Studies University - Warsaw (POLAND) Mobility for students, teachers and staff in Military Sciences
“N. Balcescu” Land Force Academy - Sibiu (ROMANIA) Mobility for students, teachers and staff in Military Sciences

Figure 16. Bilateral Agreements of UniTo for Students of Strategic Science.

ERASMUS PROGRAM Students' mobility
University Sector outgoing incoming
Ecoles Militaire de Saint-Cyr (FR) Maths and Informatics 2 2
Ecoles Militaire de Saint-Cyr (FR) International Relations 4 8 Thesis preparation
War Studies University Warsaw (PL) Military Sciences 2 and 2 civilians //

Figure 17. Military students of Strategic Sciences participants to the Erasmus Program.

EUROPEAN EXCHANGE OF YOUNG OFFICERS (MILITARY ERASMUS)
Short modules program – outgoing AA 2015-16
Host Nation Activity Students
AUSTRIA Common Security and Defence Policy Common Module
Basic Military English (BME) Common Module
Media Training Common Module
Law Of Armed Conflict Common Module
8
FRANCE Robotics: practical views 2
SLOVAKIA 3^ CSDP OLYMPIAD Common Module 1
SPAIN Ex. Tierra 2
ITALY (Air Force) Leadership & Agility in Complex
Environments Module (LACE) Common Module
4
ITALY (Carabinieri) Human Rights 88

Figure 18. Modules and military students of Strategic Sciences outgoing to Military Erasmus.

EUROPEAN EXCHANGE OF MILTARY OFFICERS (MILITARY ERASMUS)
Short modules program – incoming AA 2015-16
Common Module Students positions offered Country
Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) 14 Italians (other services incl.) 14 Civilians 14 UE MS BULGARIA
FINLAND
CYPRUS
CROATIA
FRANCE
GREECE
POLAND
ROMANIA
Law Of Armed Conflict (LOAC) 14 Italians (other services incl.) 14 Civilians 14 UE MS

Figure 19. International Modules organized in Turin inside the Military Erasmus and students incoming.

EUROPEAN EXCHANGE OF MILTARY OFFICERS (MILITARY ERASMUS)
Short modules program – incoming AA 2015-16
Number of outgoing students Receiving EU Member State Number of incoming students Sending EU Member State
7 Austria, France and Spain 7 France

Figure 20. International Traineeship Program.

In addition to these modules, a dedicated program that aims at increasing the use of English as teaching language is organized with the purpose of better preparing our students to face international modules in the following years and a long perspective to be better prepared to be employed in missions and operations. Sector language experts designed a specific module called Note-taking and Active Listening, in order to prepare students to military language and allow them to attend a seminar held in English with some tips such as how to use the proper collocation of verbs within sentences with a special focus on the topics. People with less skills in English receive additional laboratories with experts. The program of 2016-17 was completed by a Military English module for the 3rd year course while the 4th year course attended the CSDP and the LOAC module as mandatory.

On a voluntary basis, students can apply for the UNITO Teach Mob Program which consists in extra activities where notorious Visiting Professors have lessons in English on particular topics: Game Theory in 2016 (Figure 7) and “What is a public issue?” and “Chemistry, Equilibrium and Sustainability” in 2017.

Since 2000, the education for officers has opened to civilians who can gain a BD in Strategic and Security Sciences (limited to 40 people) and an MD in Strategic Sciences (without limitations). Some lessons are in common with military colleagues while others are held exclusively for civilians, so that they can acquire specific competencies that they can use for applying a future position. The permeation between military and civilian students allows to share a common background that could be useful to both categories. Civilians can apply in public sectors as well as in private companies thanks to the theoretical and practical preparation. The opening to civilians is an added value for the Army because the military personnel are strongly required to work together with civilians. Furthermore, the BD and MD courses for civilians are also a great opportunity for those young officers who are not able to fulfil the military program due to physical reasons, to conclude the university career and get a degree and to have a better chance to serve the country as a civilian employee.

Since 2000, the education for officers has opened to civilians who can gain a BD in Strategic and Security Sciences (limited to 40 people) and an MD in Strategic Sciences (without limitations). Some lessons are in common with military colleagues while others are held exclusively for civilians, so that they can acquire specific competencies that they can use for applying a future position. The permeation between military and civilian students allows to share a common background that could be useful to both categories. Civilians can apply in public sectors as well as in private companies thanks to the theoretical and practical preparation. The opening to civilians is an added value for the Army because the military personnel are strongly required to work together with civilians. Furthermore, the BD and MD courses for civilians are also a great opportunity for those young officers who are not able to fulfil the military program due to physical reasons, to conclude the university career and get a degree and to have a better chance to serve the country as a civilian employee.

Lesson for military and civilian students.

Figure 21. Lesson for military and civilian students.

The BD and MD for civilians require a quite important amount of practical training with part of it organized by public or private companies. The COMFOR offers the opportunity to host some of them and in the past, this opportunity was offered by the IT-Army Staff in Rome. In the next future, it will be possible to involve students in mission abroad.

International Module CSDP 2016.

Figure 22. International Module CSDP 2016.

International Module LOAC 2015.

Figure 23. International Module LOAC 2015.

Ceremony of Master’s Degree July 2015. Ceremony of Master’s Degree July 2015.

Figures 24 and 25. Ceremony of Master’s Degree July 2015.

Ceremony of Bachelor’s Degree September 2016.

Figure 26. Ceremony of Bachelor’s Degree September 2016.

Feedback and results

First of all, it is important to prevent any possible risks in this kind of learning system which is very dense of activities: we have to reduce the number of possible failures for our military students as they have a very intensive program to attend and carry out (academic and military training). For this reason it is essential to clarify the expected learning outcomes for each offered activity and the requirements for the admission to a course/training as well as to have a backup plan in case of failure, so that students can be given the possibility to achieve the results with an alternative training. It is important to constantly monitor the activities by using a feedback questionnaire at the start, during and at the end. In this way, it is possible to intervene in case of necessity and whenever required. The analysis of students' feedback offers the possibility to reveal strong points as well as weak points where an intervention is needed. Teachers receive support during the material preparation phase as well as during their use. It saves time and reduces the efforts for correction while monitoring the students' progress. This is particularly important in this phase where the revision of contents has been done and the reduction of disciplines was operated according to new national university requirements. It gives us an opportunity to review the entire project while harmonizing the military and academic disciplines.

The following figures show the total number of accesses to the platforms in the last nine months from the beginning of a.y. in September 2016. The military platform is called SCAPPLI (Figure 27) while the university platform is called SUISS (Figure 28).

The number of logs of Scappli Platform.

Figure 27. The number of logs of Scappli Platform.

The number of logs of SUISS Platform.

Figure 28. The number of logs of SUISS Platform.

Figures 29 and 30 show the results of a questionnaire submitted to university students about the use of VLE during their studies by using the Likert scale from 1 to 5 (1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Neutral, 4 = Agree, 5 = Strongly Agree).

Feedback of military students of Strategic Sciences.

Figure 29. Feedback of military students of Strategic Sciences.

Feedback of civilian students of Strategic Sciences.

Figure 30. Feedback of civilian students of Strategic Sciences.

Results are positive and encouraging to continue to use the platform during the learning process. It is possible to observe that civilian students assigned a lower value - even if it was positive - than their military colleagues to the specific question regarding the capability to enhance the team working process. It is possible to suppose that this is related to a different evaluation about the capability of the platform to solve problems in a real simulated environment.

The following figures show the extremely positive evaluations and feedback obtained from students who took part in international courses composed of a distance learning and a residential phase, such as the CSDP Common Module (Figures 31 and 32) and LOAC (Figures 33 and 34) for young officers, the Stabilization and Reconstruction Management Course (Figure 35) dedicated to generals and colonels and to equivalent civilian personnel.

Average Evaluations of CSDP Common Module 2016.

Figure 31. Average Evaluations of CSDP Common Module 2016.

General Level of Satisfaction of CSDP Common Module 2016.

Figure 32. General Level of Satisfaction of CSDP Common Module 2016.

Average Evaluations of LOAC Common Module 2017.

Figure 33. Average Evaluations of LOAC Common Module 2017.

General Level of Satisfaction of LOAC Common Module 2017.

Figure 34. General Level of Satisfaction of LOAC Common Module 2017.

Feedback Stabilization and Reconstruction Management Course.

Figure 35. Feedback Stabilization and Reconstruction Management Course.

The following figure shows the feedback regarding a questionnaire submitted to a particular class of students. Attendees for the Army Staff Course are professionals, Captains and Majors, graduated in different Master’s Degrees with a minimum of 10-15 years’ experience in the Army. The course has a consistent part delivered as distance learning and a quite long residential phase. The first question was about the difficulties encountered while using the platform, the second one requested a judgement on the structure and the organization of the online course while the third one focused on the overall efficiency of the VLE.

Feedback Army Staff Course.

Figure 36. Feedback Army Staff Course.

According to the answers, it is possible to state that some of them, maybe because of their age, probably had some problems in using the platform and the same students' final judgement is less positive as for the structure and the efficiency.

Conclusions

The education and training for officers could be refined in the next future according to IT-Army Staff inputs. A possible improvement could be achieved by creating a stronger cooperation with international institutions such as the International Institute of Humanitarian Law – Sanremo (IIHL), the International Training Centre (ITC) of International Labour Organization (ILO) and The United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) both located in Turin.

The international programs will be incremented, especially by increasing the cooperation within the so called Military Erasmus with EU partners. It is important to create common paths of education that are able to meet future needs and have Armed Forces ready to work together for defence and security, especially in this difficult time-frame. Sharing experiences in the field of education and training means to foster and increase international cooperation among countries. Interactions between different Universities/Schools/Academies allows to improve the quality of learning, to create modern strategies in education with a more interactive learning system, to share competences and to develop new topics. COMFOR and UNITO would like to increase the number of bilateral agreements with European and extra-European countries in order to increase the number of exchanges of students, teachers and staff and would also like to implement a common part of the program in cooperation with other partners.

References

Marchisio, M., Rabellino, S., Spinello, E., Torbidone, G. (2016). La formazione e-learning avanzata per gli Ufficiali dell’Esercito attraverso ambienti virtuali di apprendimento. Proceedings Ememitalia Modena 2016. McGrawHill.

Marchisio, M., Rabellino, S., Spinello, E., Torbidone, G. (2017). Nuove tecnologie e metodologie per la formazione degli ufficiali dell’Esercito 4.0. Proceedings Didamatica Roma 2017. AICA.

Ministero della Difesa, (2015). Libro Bianco per la sicurezza internazionale e la difesa.

Spinello, E., (2013). Contribution from Italy. Lessons Learnt from the international Military Academic Forum. IMAF 2013, ISBN 978-3-9503699-0-8, 55-58. Federal Ministry of Defence and Sports of the Republic of Austria.

Spinello, E., Marchisio, M. (2016). The International Education Program for Italian Army Officers. IMAF 2016, accepted for publication.

Spinello, E., Torbidone, G., Marchisio, M., Rabellino, S. (2017). E-learning as winning tool for supporting teaching and for enhancing the internationalization processes. Proceedings of ELSE Conference, Bucharest 2017.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thankthe IT-Army Education and Training Command and School of Applied Military Studies, the Commander, Gen. C. Berto, the Chief of Staff, Gen. R. De Masi, the Chief of Traning Office, Col. A. Fantastico, andthe University of Turin, the Rector, Prof. G. Ajani, the Prorector, Prof. E. Barberis, the Vice Rector for Didactic, Prof. L. Operti, the President of SUISS, E. Greppi.

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